Most of us only know of Scientology in passing - something for celebrities. The truth is that Scientology is a very real and very dangerous corporation. We are NOT here to judge their members’ beliefs, rather to inform the public about The Church of Scientology’s many crimes against humanity.

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This page provides a basic, factual overview of Scientology’s founding, history, policies, and illegal activities. We encourage you to read the full Church of Scientology Wikipedia article, as it gives an more in-depth account of the subjects mentioned here.
Please note that this summary does not touch on Scientology’s teachings, as the beliefs of Scientologists are not the focus of this site.

The first Scientology church was established in December 1953 by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, his wife Mary Sue Hubbard, John Galusha and a few other early Dianeticists.

As stated by Hubbard, the aims of Scientology are “A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.”

On January 24, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard died in hiding at a ranch in California. The Church of Scientology announced Hubbard had deliberately discarded his body to do “higher level spiritual research,” unencumbered by mortal confines, and was now living “on a planet a galaxy away.”

In, 1987, David Miscavige, one of Hubbard’s formal personal assistants, assumed leadership of the church. Today he continues to be the effective leader of the Church of Scientology.

Scientology has large centers (called “orgs,” short for organizations) in Sussex, England; Hollywood, California; Clearwater, Florida; and Gold Base, California, and smaller centers in numerous cities around the world.

Membership Numbers

Scientology claims it has anywhere from 7 million to 15 million members worldwide; however, these numbers are probably widely exaggerated and are not born out by census figures. Detailed census reports yielded the following figures

45,000-55,000 Scientology followers in the United States (2001)

1,781 in England and Wales (2001)

1,525 in Canada (2001)

282 in New Zealand (2001)

5,000-6,000 in Germany (2005)

“Personality” and “Stress” Tests

Scientology offers “free personality tests” or “free stress tests” to members of the public entering a Scientology center or mission. The tests involve a device called an E-meter, which the FDA has concluded has negligible scientific value.

In addition to “personality” and “stress” tests, Scientology attracts followers through numerous front groups, including Narconon, a drug treatment program that has been surrounded by much controversy. Few front groups disclose their relationship with Scientology to members of the public.

Operation Snow White

Operation Snow White was Scientology’s name for a project during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members.
Operation Snow White was the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history, involving up to 5,000 covert agents.
In 1979, L. Ron Hubbard’s third wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, along with ten other highly placed Scientology executives, were convicted in United States federal court after infiltrating, wiretapping, and stealing documents from government offices, including the IRS.
As the U.S. government investigated the Church’s illegal activities stemming from Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout came to light.

Operation Freakout

Operation Freakout, also known as Operation PC Freakout, was the name given by the Church of Scientology to a covert plan intended to have the author Paulette Cooper imprisoned or committed to a mental institution.

The plan, undertaken in 1976 following years of Church-initiated lawsuits and covert harassment, was meant to eliminate the perceived threat that Cooper posed to the Church and obtain revenge for her publication in 1971 of a highly critical book, The Scandal of Scientology.

Tax Exempt Status

In 1967, the IRS stripped all United States-based Scientology entities of their tax exemption, declaring Scientology’s activities were commercial and operated for the benefit of L. Ron Hubbard. The church sued and lost repeatedly for 26 years trying to regain its tax-exempt status.

The case was eventually settled in 1993, after the church paid $12.5 million, a fraction what the IRS had been claiming to cover more than 30 years of church operation including interest.

At that point, the IRS recognized Scientology as a “non-profit charitable organization,” and gave it the same legal protections and favorable tax treatment extended to other non-profit charitable organizations. The New York Times reported that Scientologists blackmailed the IRS into submission by using private investigators to obtain compromising material on the IRS commissioner.

According to the agreement reached with the IRS, the IRS is contractually required to discriminate in their treatment of Scientology to the exclusion of all other groups. In other words, the Church of Scientology won a special right to claim tax deductions that, Judge Barry Silverman opined in 2002, “are contrary to law and rightly disallowed to everybody else.”

Scientology cites its tax exemption as proof the United States government accepts it as a religion.

Scientology Membership and Costs

It is standard practice for Scientology members to sign lengthy legal contracts and waivers before engaging in Scientology services, a practice that contrasts greatly with many mainstream religious organizations. These legal contracts state, among other things, that Scientology followers must reject any psychiatric care their doctors may prescribe to them.

Scientologists are expected to attend classes, exercises or counseling sessions, for a set range of fees (or “fixed donations”). Charges for auditing and other church-related courses run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

A wide variety of entry-level courses, representing 8 to 16 hours study, cost under $100 (US). More advanced courses require membership in the International Association of Scientologists (IAS), have to be taken at higher level Orgs, and have higher fees.

Membership without courses or auditing is possible, but the higher levels cannot be reached this way.

In 1995, Operation Clambake, a website critical of Scientology, estimated the cost of reaching “OT 9 readiness”, one of the highest levels, as US $365,000 - $380,000, assuming the most expensive route.

Disconnection Policy

The Church of Scientology has been criticized for their practice of “disconnection,” in which Scientologists are directed to sever all contact with family members or friends who criticize the faith. Critics, including ex-members and relatives of existing members, attest that this practice has divided many families.

The Free Zone

The Free Zone comprises a variety of individuals and groups who practice L. Ron Hubbard technology independently of the Church of Scientology.
The Church has actively sought out “rogue” Scientologists and tried to prevent them from using officially trademarked Scientology materials. They are classified by the Church as “suppressive persons” (SPs) - opponents and enemies of Scientology.

Scientology in Europe and Australia

In the 1960s Scientology was banned in three states in Australia as a result of the Anderson Report, a detailed inquiry into the organization.

In 1999, an application by Scientology for charitable status in Europe was rejected after the authorities decided its activities were not of general public benefit.

In Germany, Scientology it is seen as a totalitarian organization and is under observation by national security organizations due, among other reasons, to suspicion of violating the human rights of his members granted by the German Constitution.

In December 2007, Germany’s top security officials said that they considered the goals of Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation’s constitution and would seek to ban the organization.

In France, a parliamentary report classified Scientology as a dangerous cult.

In the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada the Church of Scientology is not regarded as meeting the legal standards for being considered a bona fide religion or charity.

Scientology Front Groups

There are many independently-chartered organizations and groups which are staffed by Scientologists and pay license fees for the use of Scientology technology and trademarks under the control of Scientology management. In some cases, these organizations do not publicize their affiliation with Scientology.

ABLE

Founded in 1989, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) is an umbrella organization that administers six of Scientology’s social programs

Narconon drug rehabilitation centers.

Criminon prisoner rehabilitation programs.

The Way to Happiness Foundation, dedicated to disseminating Hubbard’s non-religious moral code.

International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance, which has a particular interest in religious freedom.

Youth for Human Rights International, the youth branch of the above.

CCHR

The Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), co-founded with Thomas Szasz in 1969, is an activist group dedicated to exposing “psychiatric abuse,” furthering Scientology doctrinal opposition to mainstream psychiatric therapies.

WISE

Many other Scientologist-run businesses and organizations belong to the umbrella organization World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE), which licenses the use of Hubbard’s management doctrines, and circulates directories of WISE- affiliated businesses.

One of the best-known WISE-affiliated businesses is Sterling Management Systems, which offers Hubbard’s management “technology” to professionals such as dentists and chiropractors.

Another well-known WISE-affiliated business is e-Republic, a publishing company based in Folsom, California.

Internet ISP EarthLink was founded by Scientologist Sky Dayton as a Scientology enterprise. The company now distances itself from the views of its founder, who has moved on to become CEO of SK-EarthLink.

The Cult Awareness Network

The Cult Awareness Network was founded in 1978 and was very critical of the Church of Scientology, categorizing it as a “destructive cult”. In 1996 after mounting legal fees from multiple lawsuits by the Church of Scientology they were forced into bankruptcy. The Church of Scientology then bought out the network.

Youfoundthecard.coms “Scientology Kills”:

Lisa McPherson
On December 5, 1995, Lisa McPherson was dead on arrival at a hospital 45 minutes north of Clearwater Florida. According to the coroner’s report, Lisa was underweight, severely dehydrated, and had bruises and bug bites.
On November 18, 1995, Lisa was involved in a minor car accident. She was apparently not hurt, but she got out of her car and took all her clothes off and seemed mentally unstable. She was taken to a hospital where she was physically evaluated as being unharmed, but the hospital wanted her to be psychologically cared for. However, some Scientologists arrived and stated that Lisa did not believe in psychiatry, and she checked out after a short evaluation and left with the Scientologists. She went with them to Room 174 of the Ft. Harrison Hotel for “rest and relaxation” according to the church.

The next time anyone outside the church saw her was when she arrived dead at a hospital 45 minutes away from severe dehydration and pulmonary embolism.

Sadly, Lisa isn’t the only person to suffer from unlicensed medical treatment at the hands of Scientology. There is a long list of others who died or took their own life after the treatment from the church failed to cure their cancer, mental illnesses or other health problems.

Heribert Pfaff
Heribert P. died on August 28, 1988 overnight after hitting his head on a table during epileptic attack. The scientology doctor reports that he prescribed vitamins for his patient (dispute regular attacks) rather than treating him with proper medication. Such medication was indeed not detected in his blood during the post-mortem examination.

Josephus A. Havenith
Newspaper articles of the St. Petersburg Times published in December 1997 mention the suspicious death of Dutch Scientologist Mr. Josephus A. Havenith. An autopsy report lists his death as “probable drowning” but notes that his head was not under water. He died in February 1980 at the Scientology Fort Harrison Hotel in a bathtub filled with water so hot it had burned away his skin.

There Have Been Others
There have been many many others who have died because of Scientology, but to list them all here will duplicate what can already be found on the page WhyAreTheyDead.net
We encourage you to read their stories.

Youfoundthecard.coms “Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF)”:

When someone within the Scientology Sea Org is found in need of rehabilitation or punishment they are sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force, or RPF.

The best description is from Hana Eltringham who was there when it began:

“I was absolutely horrified when I read them, because they talked about the creation of this - pretty much like a slave labour camp. Those weren’t the words used but that was the impression given. Where the unwanteds, those found wanting, seriously wanting were sent, and they were to be kept in this with no rights, no freedoms, no privileges of any kind. Pretty much the only rights they were allowed were a little bit of sleep each day, food leftovers. The harshest treatment, they were not allowed to speak to any of the crew. It was very, very, very bad that this was going on.”
-Hana Eltringham

From a complaint report filed to the U.S. Department of Justice by Gerry Armstrong in 2004

The RPF and the RPF’s RPF operated as a forced labor and reindoctrination camp and as a system and procedure to break the will of anyone thought to be ‘out ethics’ or ‘counter intention’ to Hubbard or his organization and activities. It was a shocking, degrading experience to be ordered to the RPF, and the threat of RPF assignment was used to keep non-RPF crew in line and producing. I was threatened several times with RPF assignment during my SO years, and assigned twice for a total of twenty-five months.+ Read More

The celeberties know about the RPF and choose not to face it.
“Moreover, the RPFers were supposed to meet Travolta himself: ‘And he came to us, being all wonder and great and grandiose… I will never forget the look on his face when he saw us. We must’ve looked like something from one of those prison camps, one of the German prison camps, because he looked at us and … he was utterly unable to speak. He just stood there. He was supposed to talk to us, and tell us all this s**t, and he literally stood there in horror.’”(Kent Interview with Prince, 1998: 25)

Suppressive Person Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.
-L. Ron Hubbard: PENALTIES FOR LOWER CONDITIONS, HCO Policy Letter of 18 October 1967

The Fair Game Doctrine has been used to harass, bankrupt and suppress anyone who speaks out against Scientology.

What does the Church of Scientology say about the Fair Game Policy?
According to Scientology.org Fair Game was cancelled in 1968. As you can see from the accounts below, and countless others online, the practice continues even today.

G. Allen
G. Allen is a writer, a US Service veteran and a blogger. He is not a member of, or a leader of the activist group Anonymous.

On his blog, “Mutterings on the Edge of Comprehension” he describes what happens after he decides to observe the protest in Clearwater Florida on February 10th.

A friend and I went to the protest in Clearwater, we took cameras and shot some film, I got to meet some of the Anon kids, that was pretty much it.

Last week we started noticing people skulking around, taking pictures of our house. Last week Scientology also filed some kind of restraining order and apparently, my name was on it. Why? Because I was in downtown Clearwater on Feb 10th.

Keith Henson
Keith Henson, an engineer, writer and futurist, was arrested Friday in Prescott, Ariz., where he has been living for the past few years, and now faces extradition to California. Henson originally fled to Canada after the 2001 conviction.
The misdemeanor conviction in California stems from a post that Henson made in the alt.religion.scientology Usenet newsgroup that joked about aiming a nuclear “Tom Cruise” missile at Scientologists, and Henson’s picketing of the group’s Golden Era Productions in Riverside, Calif.

“Don’t ever defend. Always attack.” “The purpose of the lawsuit is to harass and discourage rather than win.” A church enemy “may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.”
-L. Ron Hubbard

Interview with Frank Oliver
FRANK OLIVER: They can send private investigators out to your home or to your place of work, talk to your neighbors. They will illicitly try and obtain copies of your phone bills or credit rating. They will try and create problems for you at your place of employment.They will try and sue you. They’ll do everything they can try and do to stop you or to silence you.

TOM JARRIEL: How do you know?

FRANK OLIVER: I know because that’s what I used to do.

Frank Oliver runs a digital graphics firm in Miami, but for four years, he says, he was a member of the church’s internal security apparatus.

FRANK OLIVER: I remember having to make the phone calls to all the phone numbers on someone’s phone bill to find out where they had called. These were enemies of the church. You shut them down. You find out what you can about them. You find their weak spot and you expose it. You make it so that they cannot survive or exist. You literally destroy them.

Before Scientology
"You may not believe this, but you can write something that someone doesn’t approve of and then, with the help of the government, be bankrupted and have a quarter of your life almost ruined. And you don’t have to live in China or Russia. It can happen right here in New York. I know because it happened to me. I haven’t previously written about this from beginning to end because it’s still painful, but here goes.
In 1968, I was a struggling New York freelance writer, searching for an investigative story that would make a difference. By choosing to expose a then relatively unknown organization called Scientology (and Scientology’s companion, Dianetics), I ended up facing fifteen years in jail, had nineteen lawsuits filed against me, did fifty days of depositions, was the almost victim of a murder, the subject of five anonymous smear letters and endured almost constant and continual harassment for more than a dozen years."

After Scientology
Paulette Cooper
Paulette’s story is truly one of the most chilling accounts of what the “Church” of Scientology will do to those that speak out against it.